A gallery of photos of Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas was already a big name in Formula One before he managed to get a drive there, from the popular Twitter hashtag #BOTTAS that followed the F1 circus through 2012. It started life as a joke by Autosport’s Formula One editor Jon Noble, who posted a picture showing the word Bottas in capitals, and ended up trending globally on Twitter during some of the free practice sessions in which Valtteri was driving.

Valtteri raced in the Formula Renault UK Winter series in 2007, winning three of the four races, but without an MSA-registered licence, he was ineligible for the championship that he otherwise would have won. In 2008, he moved to Formula Renault Eurocup, winning both that series and the Formula Renault Northern European cup. He was signed by ART Grand Prix to race in the Formula Three Euroseries for 2009, and won the 2009 Masters of Formula 3, and repeated this feat in 2010, becoming the first driver to win the series for a second time. He also spent the year as the Williams Formula One test driver, which he continued through 2011 and 2012. 2011 also saw Valtteri racing in GP3 for the Lotus ART team, which he won with four race wins through the season. In 2012, being the Williams Test driver was Valtteri’s key priority, and saw him take part in fifteen Free Practice sessions. He was promoted in 2013 to a race seat for Williams, alongside Pastor Maldonado.

Valtteri quickly built an impressive following for a rookie driver in Formula One, and although 2013 was not the most impressive or successful season for Williams, with his best finish being 8th at the US Grand Prix, although it did establish Valtteri as a Formula One driver. The team retained his services for 2014, which proved to be good for both Valtteri and Williams, with a fourth place in the drivers’ championship aided by his six podium finishes. He remained at the team through 2015 and 2016, before Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement freed up a seat at Mercedes, with Valtteri partnering Lewis Hamilton for 2017.